Large Tank Skimmer selection

ReefDoctorMicromussas

ReefDoctorMicromussas

In Memoriam
Hello everyone,

... For about a year I have been building my entire basement around a new reef room that is housing a 400gal show tank that circulates 700+ gallons... Fish and heavily stocked mixed reef. I have kept a detailed photo diary and will be posting all of this soon :)

For skimming I am about to purchase the ETSS1500 XR skimmer... I have already purchased the IWAKI 100 pump

I was just wondering before clicking pay $899.99 if you all agree this IS the skimmer that best suits the above application? Does anyone have one?
 
we have a Deltec 902 that does a wonderful job, but are upgrading to one of Spazz's skimmers for when we bring the new, larger tank and sumps online. But both of those are over your price point, but are definitely top notch skimmers. One thing is energy efficiency, both of the ones I listed are more efficient than the one you are planning on. That is doubly important here in Ca, where electricity rates run high.


EDIT : What I meant to say was both of the skimmers I mentioned were over the price point that you noted above, I did not mean to imply that they were outside of your financial reach.. just comparing pricing to the skimmer that you were already looking to purchase.

Also, the efficiency comment was also to bring up the point of cost of operation over a long period, to factor in against the initial cost to purchase. Sometimes that can make the difference in one skimmer over another. Needlewheels are inherently more electrically efficient than beckett skimmmers, and I was going off of that, not off of any exact data about the various skimmers mentioned by either of us.
 
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Awesome info :) I was thinking that the ETSS were some of the more expensive ones? I currently run a Aqua C 240 on my 80 gal and was told how great it was when I bought it... its OK ... nothing to sqeal about though, very dark skimmate over the past 2 years but for volume the cheapy Seaclone on my 100 gal seems to blow it away LOL just the skimmate isnt as concentrated. I'll take a look at the specs on the Deltec I have seen alot of really Loyal Deltec folk.

Thanks
 
Loyalty is a strange beast. The more we pay for something, the more loyal we seem to be. You could build your own for about $600 and have about 100 - 120W in electrical consumption.
 
Love your tank thread... Someday I may build my own.. But right now I'm just way too busy to tinker... Between the basement completion and this tank I'm ready to just buy... I am sure that one day I will build one maybe for my hmmmm 20,000 gal dream LOL heck I'll just flood the basement
 
:lol: I hear ya there. I bought my kalk stirrer because I didn't have the time to build one and I needed it right away. I am a bit embarrassed by that, but it is built exactly the way I would have done but it has a nice CNC lid. I call it my "Commissioned DIY Stirrer"! :D
 
Hey Doc,
I have a H&S A200 1260 on my tank and it rocks!!!! It is a bit more than the above price, but it was way worth it. I have never touched it besides to clean the cup since I installed it. It is way overkill fo rmy system but it is awesome to have my overlfow plumbed directly into it. Also, I only use about 35 watts of electricity. you may need a bigger size for so much vloume but after going H&S I will never go back.
-Ian
 
doctor64776,
I have a etss1000 running for a few years, I found it to be fussy regarding the down draft air flow. You have to allow the air to exit throught the collection cup drain hose. Keep that as large ID as possible, and as short as possible to your collection device. I never stop the air flow, as it is hard to get it dialed back to where I origanlly set it. My waste drains into a 5gal bucket, I try to produce about 2/3 of a bucket of waste / week. Its a bit wetter than I would like, but the slightest tweak adjustment produces just about nothing from the skinmmer. Set your drain hose inside the bucket to just below the inner lip -so if there is a mishap your air is shut down. This has only happed in my particular situation a few times over the past few years. In general the skimmer gives great skimmateresults, but is fussy.
 
That is great info.. thank you I had heard it could be a bit fussy to tune in... about 3 gallons of skimmate a week huh? that sounds pretty good... Any way just clicked on the PayPal pay now icon.. I went ahead and bought the 1500XR so the info you gave about the collection bucket is important..

Thanks,
Chris
 
I can pull 2.5 gallons of skimmate every 3 days if I wanted of wet or 2.5 gallons of dark in 5-7 days and easily tune whatever I want:) sorry to brag but I love to when I can
-Ian
 
doctor64776, good choice on that skimmer. I have that exact same setup and it works great. Just watch it in that beginning or right after readjusting that bio-balls as they will go crazy. Good luck!

Tim
 
Also, I had a double down draft ETS run by an Iwaki 100 for 6 years and it worked well but was a pain to clean and used 4 times the electricity and the pump is noisy and it was noy gravity fed. Also the reason for 2 skimmers is My sumps will total over 300 gallons.
 
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